Closing Manus Island Center Would Hurt Refugees, Australia Is Told

SYDNEY, Australia — Australia and Papua New Guinea have failed to protect hundreds of asylum seekers sent to Manus Island under Australia’s contentious offshore processing policy, and threats to their safety and health will increase if Australia closes the island’s main detention center next week as planned, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.

In a report based on interviews with 40 of the 770 refugees and asylum seekers on Manus, which is part of Papua New Guinea, Human Rights Watch investigators said that several had been assaulted or robbed by local young men, who in some cases were drunk and armed with knives or screwdrivers.

At least three victims since June required emergency medical attention in Papua New Guinea’s capital, Port Moresby, or in Australia, according to the report, which said that in most of the cases no one was charged or punished.

“There has been an escalation in violence in the last six months and there has been little to no action by police,” Elaine Pearson, the Australia director at Human Rights Watch, said in an interview. “It’s simply not safe to move them out of the facility.”

The report, which includes video interviews with refugees from a trip to Manus in September, was released days before the planned closing on Tuesday of the main processing center on Manus, and as debate about the costs and risks of Australia’s refusal to accept asylum seekers who try to arrive by boat continues to flare.

In Parliament this week, Australian immigration officials told lawmakers that 606 people at the main center in Manus were refusing to move out by the Tuesday deadline. Senator Nick McKim of the Greens party said the government’s plan to cut off food, water and power after the deadline was an attempt to “starve out” the remaining asylum seekers, all of whom are men.

“Don’t you think you’re risking a human rights disaster here and potentially a mass loss of life?” he asked.

Australian officials have said they would continue to provide services to asylum seekers who stay on Manus, including housing and food. They estimated that it would cost 150 million to 250 million Australian dollars, or $115 million to $193 million, to do so for 12 months, depending on the terms of contracts with suppliers and how many asylum seekers find a way to leave the island.

Ms. Pearson said she was uncertain what such a large pool of money would pay for, but she said the asylum seekers’ safety would be difficult to ensure unless Australia made it more of a priority.

“Australia is walking away and leaving the P.N.G. government in charge, so when things go wrong, then P.N.G. will get the blame,” Ms. Pearson said, referring to Papua New Guinea. “But paying the P.N.G. government to take over operations on Manus doesn’t absolve Australia of its responsibilities to these men.”

Manus is one of two offshore centers where hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers from Iran, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and several other countries have been housed for roughly four years, since being detained at sea while trying to reach Australia. The other center is on Nauru, a tiny island nation that is even more remote than Manus.

Supporters of Australia’s refusal to accept seaborne asylum seekers argue that it has significantly reduced the maritime trafficking of migrants in crowded, rickety boats, which has often led to deaths at sea. But the United Nations and several human rights groups have repeatedly criticized Australia for the harshness of its approach.

The Australian government has been trying for years to get other countries to accept the refugees. Officials say the Manus center is being closed because of a ruling last year by Papua New Guinea’s Supreme Court, which determined that the detention of refugees and asylum seekers there was “illegal and unconstitutional.”

The United States had agreed to consider taking some of the refugees, under a deal reached near the end of President Barack Obama’s administration. President Trump called the agreement “dumb” soon after taking office. So far, only about 50 refugees have been relocated to the United States after extensive screening, about half of them from Manus and half from Nauru, according to Human Rights Watch.

With the Manus center’s closing looming, Australian immigration officials have been seeking alternatives. The government recently offered refugees on Manus a chance to move to Nauru, for example, while they wait to hear whether the United States will accept them. But only two refugees have expressed an interest in going.

Human Rights Watch investigators said that many of those on Manus were suffering from trauma, not just from experiences in their home countries but as a result of their detention, during which fellow asylum seekers have killed themselves or been beaten or killed.

“It’s hard to believe the situation could get worse, but the proposed shutdown of the main facility would expose the refugees and asylum seekers to even greater harm,” Ms. Pearson said.

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A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A11 of the New York edition with the headline: Refugees ‘Not Safe’ Outside Center. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe